Pilobolus Dance Theatre has never been a
typical dance company. From its origins at Dartmouth College in 1971,
its nonconformity and evolution are in its DNA and have enabled the
company to flourish where it will — much like the sun-loving fungus
after which it’s named.

The internationally acclaimed Pilobolus
returns to Cincinnati to perform at the Aronoff Center this weekend as
Contemporary Dance Theater’s Guest Artist Series finale for this season.

Evolution is necessary for survival,
naturally, but Pilobolus makes an art form of it, constantly exploring
new directions and collaborations while keeping a keen interest on the
pulse of popular culture.

Even if you’re not a modern dance fan,
you already might have seen Pilobolus. Maybe it was their viral video
hit collaboration “All Is Not Lost” with the Power Pop group, OK Go in
2011. Or perhaps it was on TV: on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Oprah or an NFL telecast. Or maybe a Ford car commercial, or even the Academy Awards in 2007.

Pilobolus’ numerous commercial
appearances might be atypical income sources for a dance company, but
they benefit the group in ways beyond the financials.

“Working in the commercial world and in
the business world has given us exposure to creative opportunities that
we never would have found otherwise,” says Artistic Director/Co-founder
Robby Barnett, speaking by telephone from the company’s home base in
Washington Depot, Conn. “We get asked to do things we never imagined
doing. In a way it’s like paid (research and development).” Sounds like
art and business can, and must, mix.

“We’ve taken an artful approach to
business and a businesslike approach to art,” Barnett says.

“We’ve found
that, miraculously, different people will pay us to make art.”

Pilobolus continually explores and grows —
not only through the creation of three or four new works a year, but by
developing new movement vocabulary annually, based on the innate
abilities of the dancers themselves. This approach sheds light on why
dance training isn’t essential for Pilobolus performers.

“We don’t believe that technique and
knowledge of history are necessary for the creation of good art or
successful creative expression,” Barnett says. “While many of our
dancers have had some dance training, for instance, it’s not remotely
required to be a successful Pilobolus dancer.”

Naturally, athleticism is a requirement,
Barnett says, as is a desire for hard work and living in a rural area
and touring all over the globe during roughly half the year. Dancers
also must “have a sincere desire to join with a group of people in a
relatively intimate exchange over a long period of time,” he says.

Dancer and Communications Liaison Jun
Kuribayashi, who’s been with the company since 2004, had been a
competitive swimmer, a martial artist and a break-dancer.

“(Pilobolus) has a very organic process,”
he says. “It’s a collaborative community of very like-minded,
passionate, artistic people who just happen to have a passion for
movement.”

Although the company has decades of
repertory, the emphasis is on creating new work. In the Cincinnati
program, audiences will see a pair of classic pieces from the 1970s
alongside three very recent works, including a sneak preview of “Licks,”
another collaboration with choreographer Trish Sie, with whom they
joined forces for the OK Go video.

“We’ve always found it more interesting
to make new work than to obsess about our older ones. Things tend to
look old rather quickly to us,” Barnett says. “We like to show people
we’re thinking about now.”

Unlike many ballet or dance companies,
the dancers play a very active role in new work creation, so they become
invested on many levels: emotionally, physically, even spiritually.

“When we get new company members in, the
dynamic changes,” Kuribayashi says. “So it’s kind of an ever-evolving
company, whether it be the aesthetic, or the movement, or the characters
that come out of it.”

All these aspects stem from the company’s original founding approach of free, pure movement exploration.

“Certainly our origins came out of a
certain ignorance — not knowing, for instance, what dance was supposed
to be, which I think freed us to think of it our own way,” Barnett says.
“I think we maintain a belief in the power of ignorance, of not knowing
what you can’t do.”